Four questions about OU football
Four questions about OU football
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Published: December 8, 2008
Who has been most impressed with Oklahoma?
At the moment, the writers are more enamored with
Florida, while the coaches narrowly prefer the
Sooners.
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At least according to the polls.
In the
Associated Press poll, Florida is ranked No. 1 with 50 first-place vote. OU is second, with only nine first-place votes.
But in the
USA Today coaches poll, OU is ranked No. 1 with 31 first-place votes, while the Gators are second with 26 first-place votes.
Virginia Tech’s
Frank Beamer,
Oregon’s
Mike Bellotti, Texas’
Mack Brown,
Kent State’s
Doug Martin, Buffalo’s
Turner Gill, Connecticut’s
Randy Edsall, Indiana’s
Bill Lynch, Georgia’s
Mark Richt, Florida International’s
Mario Cristobal, Tulane’s
Bob Toledo and
San Jose State’s
Dick Tomey all had OU third.
UCLA’s
Rick Neuheisel had OU fourth.
And the rest had the Sooners either first or second.
What are Sam Bradford’s chances of winning the Heisman Trophy?
Bradford is the favorite, but this could end up being the tightest Heisman race in years.
Texas quarterback
Colt McCoy will garner a lot of
Big 12-area votes. Writers in the press box of Saturday’s Big 12 title game who admitted they were voting for McCoy all said that while McCoy’s statistics aren’t as impressive, he doesn’t have as good a supporting cast as Bradford. Also, those voters who still believe Texas should be ranked ahead of OU could award Heisman consolation votes to McCoy.
Then, of course, there’s reigning Heisman winner and Florida quarterback
Tim Tebow, who left a strong impression in the
SEC Championship.
Tebow will probably carry the South and a good chunk of the Mid-Atlantic vote, which means it could come down to how coastal voters view the three quarterbacks.
Bradford, however, should do well with those constituents.
How healthy will OU be for the national title game?
Barring any unforeseen injuries between now and then, the Sooners should be as healthy as they have been in months.
Middle linebacker
Ryan Reynolds, who had season-ending knee surgery, is out. That leaves middle linebacker
Austin Box and defensive end
Alan Davis, who are both recovering from knee sprains, as the only players in question.
Coach Bob Stoops, however, said he expects both Box and Davis to be back for the national title.
Defensive end
Auston English returned to the field Saturday for the first time in three games since suffering a knee sprain and played relatively well.
Wide receiver
Manny Johnson, who dislocated his elbow in October, is still not 100 percent. But time off should get him closer there.
Defensive tackle
DeMarcus Granger, who’s been hobbled by a sprained foot since Week 3, should also benefit from time away from the field.
Last year, Ryan Broyles excelled at playing West Virginia QB Pat White on the scout team. Do the Sooners have anyone capable of emulating Tebow?
That’s going to be a tough one, since Tebow also runs like a fullback.
But Stoops had an interesting suggestion Sunday night.
"Maybe
Matt Clapp,” Stoops said of his 235-pound fullback. "We need a big physical guy.
"But I don’t think Matt can throw very well. In fact, I know he can’t.”
By Jake Trotter
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That's why I always say let USC have all its 5-star athletes because Carroll's just wasting talent while Stoops is getting who he wants and turning them into champions. Just look at White and Bradford. Neither were highly recruited out of high school. Mark Sanchez was one of the top QBs coming out of high school and look who's have the better season.
Don't give me all that hullabaloo about Tebow's numbers.
The kickoff return team isn't bad. Do you see us not getting the ball past the 20 when Iglesias and Murray are catching kicks and running them back? No. Why do I ask? Because that is OUR KICKOFF RETURN TEAM!
Our Kickoff COVERAGE UNIT is egregious. Not vice versa.
Since you screwed up that simple distinction, your argument is hereby defunct and overturned. Thanks for playing.
The three voting coaches who faced Oklahoma and Texas – Missouri's Gary Pinkel, Texas Tech's Mike Leach and Baylor's Art Briles – voted the Sooners No. 1.
None of the computers, 40 of the 113 Harris voters and 13 of the 61 coaches ranked Texas ahead of Oklahoma.
1. Your kicker has had plenty of practice kicking off with all the scoring, how come he can
only get the ball to inside the opponents 15 yd. line with no wind blowing against him?
2. With all the scoring and kicking off, how come the kick return team is still so bad, giving
up a record number of kick return TD's and letting the opponent have an average starting
1st down on their own 35 yd. line?
3.How can a fan at home watching the game on TV know what play the opposing team is going to run by seeing the formation and the OU defensive Co-o on the side line who
makes the D calls can't. Does he not understand the term "tendencies"?
4.Why do the media people "lob soft-balls" at Stoopsy on Tuesdays and not ask the questions
that the fans that pay their hard earned money for tickets, gas, lodging, food, airfare, rental cars, crowd hassle, etc. want to hear and be answered? I know don't tell me, the media is
riding the OU gravy train, we would all like to be on that one, RIGHT!
Voters make their minds up when there are still games to be played. Plus, these are the same people who tried to manipulate the system to get Texas into the Championship game by changing their votes during that last week of the season.
Do we really think this award has the merit that it once did? If your team isn't a top team, you're out. If you aren't a QB, RB or receiver, you're out. If you've lost more than 2 games, you're out.
It's a joke.